Iconic rapper Snoop Dogg was recently awarded his very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His speech was notable for its moxie.
After thanking his music producer Quincy Jones, collaborators and fans, the rapper born Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, paused to thank the person most responsible for his career.
“I want to thank me for believing in me, I want to thank me for doing all this hard work, I want to thank me for having no days off, I want to thank me for never quitting, I want to thank me for always being a giver and trying to give more than I receive,” he said. “I want to thank me for trying to do more right than wrong, I want to thank me for just being me at all times. Snoop Dogg, you a bad motherf*****,” the rapper declared.
It takes a lot of moxie to make a speech like that, but it takes even more moxie to sustain a decades-long career as a rapper and entertainer. Here’s how I break down Snoop Dogg’s moxie.
Moxie can have a past, and it’s not always pretty.
Snoop grew up in Long Beach, California, but his childhood was hardly the California dream. He was a gang member, a drug dealer and frequently in trouble with the law.
But he was also an artist. His cousin slipped a mixtape featuring Snoop to producer Dr. Dre, and he immediately recognized that Snoop was a “diamond in the rough.” The West Coast style was in its formative years, and Snoop’s laidback style and delivery were groundbreaking.
Dr. Dre polished up that diamond, and Snoop began to shine. After being featured on Dr. Dre’s smash seminal album The Chronic, Snoop dropped his own album. Doggystyle turned 25 this week, and singles “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” and “Gin and Juice” remain key tracks on any 90s playlist.
Since his debut, Snoop’s output has been prolific. He’s released another sixteen studio albums – including his first Gospel album earlier this year – and seven collaboration albums. He’s also appeared in dozens of movies, television shows and video games, launched his own youth football league, and been involved in numerous other charitable and entrepreneurial ventures.
It takes moxie to work that hard and create, build and sustain a brand as powerful and relevant as Snoop’s.
Moxie grows up.
He’s not the same guy he was when he first broke on to the scene a couple of decades ago. While some things remain a strong part of his life – he still smokes a lot of weed, for instance – he seems to have left other things behind.
“It’s always been there. There wasn’t like a moment that changed me. It’s just that in the early years, the focus wasn’t there,” Snoop said in a recent interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. “I wasn’t in control. I was just doing me. I was reckless, an 18-, 19-year-old, active gang member. My upbringing taught me the right way. Out there, I learned the wrong way. That’s what usually happens with our youth. They get taught the right way, then leave and do it the wrong way, and have to find ourselves going back home. That’s where I’m at now, finding myself back home.”
Alongside his public persona as a gangsta rapper, Snoop has maintained a long marriage to his high school sweetheart, Shante Taylor. The couple has weathered significant challenges, but they stayed together to raise three children and are now enjoying six grandchildren together.
Marriage takes moxie. Being a father takes moxie. Learning to love and invest in his family has been a powerful, transformative experience for Snoop Dogg.
Moxie makes friends.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that perhaps Snoop Dogg’s most interesting and perhaps perplexing ventures is his collaboration with domestic doyenne Martha Stewart.
The odd couple first paired up years ago when Dogg turned up as a guest on her show. The segment was successful, and the pair crossed paths several times again and struck up a friendship. They launched the Emmy-nominated “Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party” on VH1, which just wrapped its second season earlier this year.
The show is a natural extension of their own friendship, which is based on their shared appreciation for humor and entertaining.
The show works, and their relationship works, because they celebrate those shared values together. They appreciate each other, and accept each other for who they are. In a fractured and fractious world, it’s comforting to see two people from different generations and backgrounds enjoy being around each other so much.
Moxie is comfortable enough in its own skin that it can appreciate and value others; real moxie doesn’t require constant validation, conformity and uniformity.
As I imagine what an interview with Snoop Dogg might be like, I imagine it a lot of it would have to be bleeped and I’d probably end up with a contact buzz. But I also imagine I’d hear a lot of interesting insights about hard work, focus, family, and moxie.
If I ever get the chance to talk to Snoop, what should I ask?
